After more than a decade with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or CS:GO as most players know it, Valve has announced the official successor. This is Counter-Strike 2, which will be offered to all players as a free update later this year.
Valve is careful not to worry the loyal players. The company states that Counter-Strike 2 is “the biggest technical leap in the history of Counter-Strike”, but at the same time announced that the basic game mechanics will not change, and that skills acquired in CS:GO will also be good for the new game. Valv will divide the maps into three levels, where at the base level there are well-known and beloved stages that will not undergo any changes except for a slight visual upgrade. This way the players will be able to start the game in stages they are already familiar with, and move at their own pace to maps that have undergone more significant changes.
As for the graphics, here a serious upgrade is expected with a more modern and detailed look, a new interface, and additional improvements about which the company will detail later. One upgrade that has already been revealed is new smoke grenades, as well as a system that allows precise synchronization between players on the server.
Some CS:GO players will receive an invitation already this week to join a limited trial of Counter-Strike 2, which includes only one map and limited game modes. There is no way to enter the trial other than through such an invitation, which Valve will send on its own initiative based on data such as previous playing time, rank and good standing in Valve’s trust system, which identifies players who have tried to cheat or harm others. Invited players will receive a notification that will appear within CS:GO, when the tools they have accumulated will be fully transferred to the trial version as well.